- 9 weapon types
- Multiple finishing moves per weapon type
- Effects of finishing moves (which can be customized) stack
- Each character has a unique theme which plays after using a finishing move
- Send characters to other people by Street Pass or over the Internet
- Nolende Village takes 1000 hours to rebuild; increasing the population will reduce this time
- Increase the villages population via Street Pass or by using the internet
- A shop in Nolende Village lets you buy parts to customize finishing moves
- Abilities gained via abilink are less powerful and require higher cost
- "Fear" status ailment prevents Braving and Defaulting
- Some bosses have huge amounts of HP
- Dark Knight job shown, looks like FF4 Dark Knight Cecil
- Dark Knight's skills can use up HP; you can inflict status effects on yourself to increase abilities
- Onion Knight costume shown for Tiz; obtained via FaceBook
- Planning more costumes, some to be distributed via Twitter
- 46 tracks in the game, with 10 being battle tunes
- Collaboration weapon with Dengeki; a lance
- The first RPG Asano ever passed was FF3. Ironically, he was in charge of the FF3 remake on the DS. Also worked on Four Warriors of Light and the FF4 remake.
- Hayashi (Mages) worked on the scenario. Used to work at KID. Worked on the scenario for Stein's Gate.
- Asano first said to Hayashi he wanted him to create characters you could fall in love with.
- The 'base' idea of the game was four characters who had changable jobs.
- They focused on creating characters who had good interactions with each other, and a balance of personalities and how to show the drama between them and the "bad guys".
- The main character's motivation is to restore her hometown.
- For example, say it takes 1,000 hours to restore it with one person, 500 with two, 250 with four and so on, where the additional villagers are collected through StreetPass. The main character is the one who bears the communication functions.
- One of the heroines is the daughter of bad characters.
- The notebook held by Ringabel can be read by the player at any time. It contains information on the future.
- The game (scenario, characters) has a nostalgic feeling of older style RPGs.
- Abi-Link system; can use friends higher-leveled character's abilities for a time.
- Can connect the game online for those living in regions where StreetPasses are uncommon.
- Core-concept: "A single player RPG that you play together"
- Quests, like item collections, don't make up the main part of the game, like the 5th demo.
- Order of learning abilities is different too.
- Changing the game based on feedback from the demo was based on seeing how social games are improved on after release with feedback from players.
- Team worked hard to increase the battle speed, but Asano recognises it will still not please everyone.
- Asano feels the pressure because of the expectations with this being a SE RPG.
- No problems picking the battle system up for FF or DQ fans.
- Been in-dev (since planning) for about 2 years.
Iwata: Listening to what you've said I've found it unusual that you've thought so logically about the roles and functions (of characters) and how you can bring them life. Usually, when one thinks of Square Enix it's easy to think of pretty graphics, and the idea that a characters visual image comes first more often than not. But to answer the question "Why are RPG's interesting?" with the logical analysis of "They're fun because of the wonderful construction of the features and scenario" at its root, and for the both of you to focus from there from the beginning of development, I feel may be the source of this games individuality.
Iwata: The average feeling is that "demo versions let you enjoy the beginning of the full version" in most cases, but that isn't the case this time, right?
Asano: Yes. Instead of cutting out a portion of the full version for a demo, we've purposely had them lack story, focusing on the gameplay. Even if you earned levels and money, it's not fun if you have to play through the same area again, so we wanted the story to be something you experience freshly in the full version.
Iwata: This time, via the demoes, you engaged in catchball with the players. Answering opinions from players with "We'll do this next time", comunicating along the way, I thought "this is something that can only be done in this day and age", but was that way of developing your idea?
Asano: Yes, it was.
Iwata: What led you to come to that idea?
Asano: Actually, I sit close to someone working on a social game, and seeing that was the beginning. After being released social games are constantly having their quality improved based on players reactions. That's why I thought "can we introduce even a little of that development formats good points into ours?"
Asano: It's be about 2 years since we started planning, and it was a long 2 years (laughs). However, it was a chance to create a new Oudou RPG, and the effort for the AR, the many demoes and the catchball with the players, I feel we've done our best. That's why even though the release is a little scary, it's also exciting.
